Tournament of Books 2016

It’s March! And while many people associate this month with March Madness and the beginning of spring, I have forever linked March with the Tournament of Books! Brackets have been set, and soon the tournament begins. Today is an introduction, tomorrow is the play-in round, and then the tournament really kicks off on the 9th. I thought it would be fun to make some predictions this year. Who do I think will win? Let’s look at the brackets:

First up, the Play-In Match: Avenue of Mysteries v. A Spool of Blue Thread. Predicted Winner: A Spool of Blue Thread. I’m a big fan of Irving, but I’m thinking with the buzz A Spool of Blue Thread received this year and the Man Booker nomination will help it pull through.

Onto the first round:

Fates and Furies v. Bats of the Republic. Predicted Winner: Fates and Furies. I’m thinking if this book doesn’t win, it will get very close to it.

The Sympathizer v. Oreo. Predicted Winner: The Sympathizer. Oreo just hasn’t gotten as much buzz as the Sympathizer has, so I’m a little biased toward the one I’ve heard the most about.

The Turner House v. Ban en Banlieue. Predicted Winner: The Turner House. I’ve read it and thought it was fantastic.

Our Souls at Night v. The Whites. Predicted Winner: The Whites. I don’t know anything about either book, so I’m just going with my gut with this one.

A Little Life v. The New World. Predicted Winner: A Little Life. I will never read A Little Life (it just seems too much, you know?), but the way everyone else talks about it, I’m sure it will go far.

The Book of Aron v. The Tsar of Love and Techno. Predicted Winner: The Tsar of Love and Techno. This was a hard one for me, because I think they both sound fantastic and they’ve been on my TBR since I heard of them, so this is a simple guess.

Play-In Winner v. The Story of My Teeth. Predicted Winner: The Play-In Winner. I’ve picked A Spool of Blue Thread, but even if Avenue of Mysteries wins, I think it will pull through here. I like rooting for the underdog and would like to see the play-in last longer than one round.

The Sellout v. The Invaders. Predicted Winner: The Sellout. A story involving the legal world and the Supreme Court v. a story involving the rich Northeast? Very difficult for me as those are two topics I love to read. Guessing a little here, but The Sellout seems like the safer choice.

So that’s the first round! We’ll see how I do. I do absolutely terrible at these kinds of things, usually, so I don’t really have high hopes. I’ll check in here as winners are decided and make some predictions for the next round when this one is finished.